Sunday, December 26, 2010

I seem to have had an unusually busy run up to Christmas this year - probably had something to do with my getting not one, but two contracts for work, which started in the weeks before Christmas and needed some urgent attention. After several months of not working at all it meant that the inevitable last minute preparations were somewhat squeezed. I found myself promising that next year would be different.... where have I heard that before?However all seemed to get completed in time, even if there was a fair bit of stitching completed on Christmas Eve, once I had our daughter safely out of the house. So, the kimono wedding quilt is fully quilted and bound and just waiting for a label.... I'm very pleased with it and am sure there will be a few more of these to be made. I had an idea a few days out from Christmas that I could do something with blankets and doilies to create a picnic blanket for an extended family member. However, my daughter found me in the sewing room as I was in the early stages and declared that it was far too good to leave the house as she loved it and wanted it for her room.... What can you say? The next day she was asking what I was doing with the blankets and I told her that I had put them away as I had no time to work on it. In reality I was frantically stitching every time I could get her off the property or into bed.The result was this blanket which is now on her bed - she was delighted, so it was an effort well worthwhile.

I joked to one of my friends that I am planning a book to be published next your - 101 Things to do with Old Doilies.

Just as well I have so many of them waiting to be played with and made into something new...

And I've also been hard at it with the angels - I think I've made around a dozen of these this year. There's not too much left of my baby blanket, which they were all made from - I will have to make sure I make one each for the children before it is all used up.

We had a lovely Christmas - lunch for 12 was a smaller affair than we have had in recent years, but a good time was had by all.

Tuesday, December 7, 2010

One of the marvellous things about quilting is that there is always something to learn.... and I am certainly learning with this quilt. Using different types of fabrics in one quilt, wool, cotton and silk and with these often having different weights, it's been giving me real headaches as I have quilted it. I'm pleased with how it looksbut it is moving so much that I have had to re-pin it several times already as I have worked on it. Just look at the rippling...

I think next time I work on something with such different types of fabric I will invest in the spray on glue so I can more effectively stick the layers together and stop (or at least minimise) the movement. Lots of people swear by it - and its got to be better than this has been.

About Me

I'm a textile loving mother of three who gets great pleasure from pottering in my sewing room, hunting out vintage textile bargains and roaming the crafty blogs of the internet. And from time to time I've even been known to pay attention to the others I share the house with!